A right caning

Big night out at the Rugby last night to watch the Hurricanes play the Chiefs. The local team delivered a right caning with a 39-19 win over the visitors. It was a balmy evening so made for a pleasant night out. Although it seemed like touch and go whether we’d get tickets as the queue [...]

A problem shared

The person who came up with the saying that “A problem shared is a problem halved” must have been completely deluded. I’ve been sharing my current problem of weed attack with Bob, my father-in-law, but it doesn’t seem to have halved the problem at all. It did however make the legs and back ache slightly [...]

A treat never hurt anyone!

It’s been a tough time for the bassets since their op’s made harder by Fortnum’s longer recovery. However, we try to make it as much fun as possible for them with an occasional treat to cheer them up. Also, Fortnum’s been increasingly allowed to take his hat off and run free and wild. He is [...]

Houseblogging – end of an era

Today I closed down my companion site – Kaitoke Grand Design. A blog designed to chronicle the build of the house. You can check it out.

Plants are thriving

Despite the hot weather the garden is starting to thrive with the plants in the beds around the house really setting down roots. It is starting to look like a real garden should. The bees are loving the plants close to the front veranda which makes it difficult for maintenance during the day. Best to [...]

Set back in recovery

It’s not been a good time for the bassets this week. There was a set back this weekend in Fortnum’s recovery following his insistence on licking his stitches. As a result he was packed off to the vets to get a buster collar fitted and antibiotics/painkillers. It was an alarming experience for both of us [...]

Love thy neighbours

I’ve never been hugely lucky with neighbours apart from a lovely older couple in Ouston, Chester-le-Street, who had the downstairs flat. Although they fought all the time and I could listen to what they watched on TV they were really friendly and always concerned for me. I like to think that I reciprocated this neighbourly [...]

2 Years and counting

It’s been two years – that’s 730 days – since I arrived in New Zealand to start my new life as a Domestic Executive. Those painful first few hours after stepping off the plane are starting to fade to the long term memory but it’s still hard to believe that I’ve really started to achieve [...]

Getting bigger every day

I forgot to update you bloggers of how big the puppies are growing. They were weighed at the vets this week and as you might expect they are getting bigger and bigger. If you look back to previous posts you’ll see how far they’ve grown: To the strapping lads we now have with Fortnum weighing [...]

Weed warfare

This week I declared warfare on the weeds on our land. I know that I’ll be fighting a losing battle for years to come but you have to start somewhere. This decision followed a rather painful lesson in weeding – make sure that your teeshirt meets your shorts at the back. After spending several hours [...]